Boys Will Be Boys? Today at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, leaders of every branch of the military were challenged by Senators on the issue of the problem of sexual harassment. During the back and fourth Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) came perilously close to sounding as if the old “boys will be boys” mentality that has often waved away sex assault in the past may be a factor in the problem.

“The young folks who are coming into each of your services are anywhere from 17 to 22 or 23. Gee whiz, the hormone level created by nature sets in place the possibility for these types of things to occur. So we’ve got to be very careful how we address it on our side,” he said.

“But guys, we are not doing our job. You’re not doing yours, and we are not doing ours with the rates we are seeing on sexual assaults,” Sen. Chambliss, who is 69 and is retiring next year, concluded.

Interestingly, two sex assault cases that hit the press recently and have spurred congressional involvement involved two men in their 40s.

Lauren Victoria Burke is a writer, comms strategist and political analyst. She created Crewof42 in 2009. The blog focuses on African American members of Congress and Black political power regardless of party. Ms. Burke also writes for NBC BLK, The Root, NNPA and is the Managing Editor of Politic365. As part of a diverse career in politics and media, she has also served as a congressional staffer for the U.S. Senate Democratic Policy Committee, Communications Director for U.S. Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN) and Director of Communications for Justin Fairfax of Lt. Governor of Virginia. She appears each Monday on weekly on NewsOneNow with Roland Martin on TVOne. Ms. Burke holds a B.A. in History from The American University. Email: LBurke007@gmail.com. Twitter: @LVBurke.

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